To me, it’s not a matter of supposedly homosexual dude vs church boy. The gay supporters vs the church-goers. It’s a matter of which genre of music is more popular with the voters right now. I’m not even talking about which genre is more popular in the current music scene. I’m talking about what’s popular with the VOTERS. I don’t know who exactly votes (reportedly the tween crowd?), but these people are obviously more passionate about voting.

After last week’s reveal of the final two, I was actually kinda certain that Adam Lambert wouldn’t win. With the final three determined as such, I figured it was gonna be a case of Lambert vs Gokey & Allen. And with the latter two having a similar style, it was clear that when Danny Gokey was out of the competition, Gokey fans would naturally shift their attention to Kris Allen. Had Gokey been in the final, he would’ve won over the Kris fans. Therefore, I believe that Adam would only have won if Allison had been in the final three, not because Allison is less talented, but for the fact that Adam is the more dynamic entertainer.

Regardless, as a Kris fan, I guess I’m happy that he won the competition? I still think it damages an artist’s “street cred” – doesn’t help that his first single is lyrically hideous and they even give out a ridiculously redundant trophy now! – although it’s a great platform to be heard. Also, I don’t think he’s gonna be a household name, but he’ll definitely have a strong enough fanbase which would keep his career going.

So congratulations, Kris Allen.

(Disclaimer: This is an entirely fan-girl post. So please refrain from squirming or rolling your eyes, cos I already warned you.)

For the past few weeks, I’ve been religiously watching American Idol and getting myself charmed by a little fella who really didn’t strike me as a star initially, mostly because he didn’t share the same screen time in the lead up to the Top 12, nor the swagger and charisma as this other guy who has been screeching his way to the top. But week after week, he continues to impress me with his musical artistry (as one of the judges love to put it) and show the world that he’s not just a singer, but a real musician at heart. And that’s exactly what I like about Kris Allen.

At first, I wasn’t too keen on this season’s Idol cos no one really stood out. Matt Giraud came close cos I was blown away by his performance in the Hollywood round but the others who were constantly featured were off my radar as their voices didn’t quite sit well with me. Then the Top 36 came along and when I heard that some dude wanted to sing Man In The Mirror (a song I can put on repeat for hours), I had to sit up and take notice. And whaddya know, it was not bad.

So I started looking forward to Matt & Kris, with the former disappointing me more each week, and the latter rising up the ranks. Then Kris performed 2 songs that completely did it for me. His interpretation of Ain’t No Sunshine was pretty damn spectacular and sealed his position as the dark horse of the competition. And because he still needed to win me over (heheh), two weeks later, he performed a very heartfelt rendition of one of the most beautiful songs ever written – Falling Slowly. I first fell in love with this song when I saw the movie Once, and for weeks, I couldn’t get the song out of my head. I played it every day; I had it on repeat, so when Kris didn’t ruin it for me and somehow made me love the song even more, it said a whole lot.

Now in the Top 3, Kris reinforced his artistry (there’s that word again!) with this bold but amazing take on Kanye West’s Heartless (no kidding) which got everyone talking.

At this stage, I don’t care if he doesn’t win, cos I know he’s gonna get a decent record deal and people are gonna buy his albums. In fact, like last season with David Cook, I’d actually prefer if he didn’t win, cos I think the label of “American Idol winner” doesn’t give any one a whole lotta brownie points in the “street cred” department… But that’s just me.

Coldplay Live In Singapore 2009, originally uploaded by poisoned ivy.

Wow. Coldplay last night was… Wow.

My experience was nothing short of amazing. It was exactly what I’d always believed every concert should be like and to me, this is precisely how music should be enjoyed.

From the moment the band came onstage, I just knew it was gonna be awesome. And the guys certainly did not disappoint. In fact, after Clocks, only their third song of the night, I’d already declared to Nessa that this was without a doubt the best concert I’d ever been to. Watching Chris Martin perform with such raw energy and heart was needless to say, breathtaking. In My Place sounded better than it already is. Yellow was a massive crowd-pleaser. Fix You became this gorgeous anthem. The guys did a cool techno remix of God Put A Smile Upon Your Face/Talk (video not taken in Singapore but it was the same version) and as expected, Viva La Vida was freakin’ awesome live. I developed a new love for Lovers In Japan, and was moved by the heartfelt and tender performance of The Scientist.

And as though listening to their already gorgeous songs live wasn’t enough, there was the spectacle. Lasers! Balloons! Confetti! Rotating globes that doubled as screens! Beautiful backdrops! More confetti! But that’s not all, cos the band decided to be just a little bit more awesome and walked right into the crowd and performed a mini acoustic set AMONG THE AUDIENCE.

Audience participation/engagement was high as everyone sang along, chanted the “oh” refrain from Viva La Vida and was clearly there to enjoy the awesomeness of Coldplay. We even got to try the Coldwave (only the second venue to do it, after Auckland) which was pretty cool until it died down after the fifth or sixth round.

The energy from the concert lingered for a long time after I got home. Only thing was, I was on such a high that I found it hard to sleep cos I kept re-living the entire experience and I couldn’t get the “oh” refrain out of my head. And even this morning, when I got up, I woke up with a big, stupid smile on my face.

If anything, this experience has given me a whole new level of love and respect for the band and you can bet I’ll be at every one of their shows in Singapore from now on. While the videos I’ve posted certainly don’t do any justice, I hope it’ll be enough to convince you that you should do yourself a favour, and catch Coldplay live. Cos seriously? Not many bands in this world are gonna be as good as this.